MEMORANDUM TO MR. J. EDGAR HOOVER FROM HUGH R. WILSON

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06521103
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: March 16, 2022
• Document Release Date: July 22, 2016
• Case Number: F-2016-02180
• Publication Date: August 27, 1942

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OFFICE OF STRATEGIC SERVICES
WASHINGTON, D. C.
AUG 2 7 1942
Mr. J. Edgar Hoover, Director,
Federal Bureau of Investigation.
FROM; Hugh R. Wilton
The attached material, which has been obtained
from a reliable source, is being forwarded to you in
the belief that it will be of interest.
,Hugh R. Wilson
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Mr
Mr.
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'der
birt ��. �
Mr. 1-.con
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On July 14, 1942, this Agency sent you material
on the Infoject"ah\tiazi Fifth coitGiizi, iy..therecit TT,* r.
fornor Counsellor of tho Gornt...n Lgition at Tho Hague.
This material vms -aub.mitted to an export, rthov.,e
kno�aledGe/Of �Germony and things Gomm is encyclopedic,
and he has ,prepared a Study of this. materisl, a cow of
v;hich is transmitted for your further information.
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91.5
AuLust 18).1942
Cments on'OasLitop Docuzent (file .9515)'on ti e Subject
of ;Jazi VifthColuLipism
he acservations re,.aldip, fifth column are to ,epera-
liz(GI to Live an exact pichare. Recardinc orGanization of au .
r)iEectir,) fifth colum, the Ger�lans .1-eve failed in the 1:other-
:ands. ..v.Z: they have not failed in their military espiona,e
service. The surprisin6ly quick result of the invasion of the '
Lothorlands waz, in my opinion, achieved by tile exactness of
the 1/reparation and tho use of the detailed inforwatiop, wilich
the military es.)ionage service made available. On the other '
hand it is liroVen ti.at Hitler ninself- believes, or at least
once Lelleved, that a well oranized fifth colump in the senso
of a body within the enemy-land to create internal unrest should.
_Jrove to be an excellent "now weapon".
1-,itier13 ideas on ,this subject are; so far as I. can ju,
best redrosentod in a quotation in Eernaattauschnin, "Cos- ,
...xaccho =at Hitler". It millanfstaen,o1 UTIO interpreted Hitler's '
ideas on this subject to RauslIninL. "tvery state could, by sui-
1
1 table raetnods, be so split fron within that littl at e ren,tp vas ,
.
required to break it down. _verjpere tnere were Lroups that
g
desired independence; alother national or economic, or merely po-
' litical. The scradole for,food and distorted a...Jai:Um - those
were the unfailin, means to a revolutionary weapon by which the
enemy was ztruck from t..-.4 rear. Finally, there were the busineas-'
4Lon, whose profita were their all-in-all. wherd -,:Ais no spatrio- ,
, ..____. ._ _ _ r %
:Itism thnt could holu out aLainst ail-temptations. i,csides, ono
could always dresstbese thins up. It was really by no means
Pdifficult to find patriotic slo,ars tnat would cover all auch
Lmterprises and riould at the same t,.le vim over men ltho wore tlad
\
bo ear.%) their sensitive consciences with .;one sach balu. And
ltimately, it was all a question of money and orzanization."
On pace 4' star6s'a.description Ofione r. uotin, 6.tn the
rear, like:eXistS in every country wAere an awreelaUe
number of .3erman nationals reside.
Lf.orica, iw not know". it is by ,fir'' belief, that SuCl. a Kr
Luttink, for the United states does.nOt'exist, but that the t,dotnjo
had certain "aents" In this country, -Win :reported on-ind%vidnals
of -1:,11an nationality as veil as on ei.0.4ens. -
: On ..�,aze 5-it 10 Mentioned "that in .overy.74atin American
countr-wfiere clustera ofq,eran nationals, some 'of:thea.vich
and influential, rsi0.6 work' and:Carry on bubiness'a !:utbin,.;"
exista.' That, in my elief, is, - or was true..
1. POCIFORP.4.A1,5Vv`,1--6.12::."23
ar -771 '1
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WIPICE 0?
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.Thero waS once an attelAyb'to build up some kind of-orani-
;Ization.of Gornan'citizens in United itatos byo. certain:
-Sche1lonber3. This attempt as nipped -in the bu,,. before 6cho11on-
Coultr'gths idea. Out by a roportof Dr.,Thouson to tile
iAlehrorkny attei2pt of this Rind,'1:0:-Tho.isen roported,
have,t,;_p ropult.of endin:tho neutrality o1 to rnitxi'd 1,t.atos.
It is c'xorect (pao li), tizat oitlor occasionally ots
abo2t caricatures ar, taf,t -4; do7.,lanod on cortan oc-
casiom 2,1.i)2oLAt.t.c 4tc310-t.) iob.L& t iia,14sabi)n of 4;':,o11
caAcatiri.os la foroiLn newo9apers.
,a 0 15; .Arlon tcc. lorman officials J.ch,:.orked in the
Z!.!ited "sx.e kind of secret services",
Couso.1 o 4nc1os, 0.1ifornia, Lorbort ocnolz� Consul
in L:aoton, Onlo7rn o .LIVO included in evert; .?ouch a personal lot-
ter to cLicf, opinions on
ofacials) and Aorr von aenanth (!rip...assy .,asningibon).
e 15: iAe an of tbo L;uoro I.Lb entrop at to t3onsu-
late lorortil ir I7ow York City ws one tioiaz Twornor, for,:ierly at
tt,e :bassy 4-1 London.
14_0 16; ;o son-in-law of "olu illoinworth." is .'aitin
;ienner. tao, wariaE�..,world ip Ger,:au miliLary attack.� in
ti)e Lo Lecae enatl;cd t) tia; (aau,:.tor -efare
and :lcried her in 191 or 1920. Ee nust bo now fa: aQove
7u0 surely honest ana surely Rbout 192. 'til 1928 he was
Linistor in Athens.
an p0 17: -.L att or mans Lourtht _utah currency and
ship,,ed it so fiorlaany by di.,,)atc,..,b&L o. ,fuet. in al eon
tLtia fact io to ia.r roason tor the rumors that Lazi 1,;(1,177iLs
have tried to build up-"neot ez,o" ini.1=terdam and elso7hore.
2hey d. t sail� in JwitzOrland, convortin.,� their It,alian cur-
roney into 6v1,00 anC.traDsnortinc; the lattor.by dispatch to.
i do not knob. if 3".o sane oto was vsod in tr.� United
estrItos. quantIty of Cbrlaa ark3 In notes in Lc,:: York iiity
w_g a riAativoly one and for 0020 ti ,:rt.lere was 2.oro do'
tar offer. 13u there seem to Le quite a quantity of 01-
i:fly bills J.,a ;�,;eman hands. In mg opinLon the notes have boon con-
Liscated in ,:Jolana anu ':bore "black narhets" for
can uotos existed and such aotos Weil� hidden in safes.
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vit, OF STRAZLGiO suarie5. l6
_3_ 5,
.
That Caearis has a wideflunz� .0y net (1
yond doubt.
ae 22ff) ia be.
at stronu abort wave transmitters are, or vier�, in use
at soveral diplomatic missions in difi'eront countries secs to
me probable. I do not /mow how those transnittors can bo do-
tooted. 2efore the outreak of Thrld VIar Li,' heard that a
aorman onzineer had invented a transmitter, safoproof a!lainzt
(..otection by the usual methods. it soeos to me also probablo
that information about ships len..vinL, Amorican harbors is picked
up b- qorman submarines. tut how could it be'detectod? If once
the trot, of a Gorman $'4b would be-caucht, one should try to find
out throuchAirio man aboard in charo of the radio.
1
re4arks on paLp 26ff soc.)m. to mo not to bo very sound.
2here will always be some Americans of Oorman descent 1-:rno havo
a weak spot for their old country. Lut to a much ,ye .tor
teat that is tI, case with the Czechs, tho Poles, t imnarians,
the i,-,;rians; etc. "individuai an hotheaus" way exist in
this country, but I think that in this rocreo the P:51 zooms to
her have done an excellent job. That te sooms to be no -1,!azi sabo-
ta,e or4LanimUon in this co7Iltry is to mo to be provon by three
points.
1. Lally of the Germans who lived in this country and did
not take out citizonship pf-pers have returned to Geruany� sono
of them zpvorned by their Uazi foolincs;*many just lured into the
homoland by promises and ki people interested to sell tLem "fluecl.-
'wanderer jPorrnark" an in the liquidation f their American pro-
POrtY. i.rte promise of a decent job, cs.pecially in such fields in
which a hih "initiation foot' ?rohlbitod a 1.!oruan to ot such
hore in the bnitou Statos, used 10 be more attractive to a 'iorima
artisan than the promise of a,Pat payroll. That oany of the ol
rants who returned to Germany fool disappointed doos not chan,e
this picture.
2. �"ot o. sint;lo case, of oranized inklustrial�sabotk,o secis
to have occurred; at least not a 'sincle caso has:bocome knoml; 21.11
prosumo it suroly would have tecone knozn, if it existod.
3. ihe fact th.:&two 4:rwtps of saLoteurs balm Loon lanC.od
ty submarines seons.to me to be in itsolf .Jroof, that 11.0 or at
loast no or�anized sabota_e exists in this eountr-.
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sJ remiarlts on daLe29 rc.ar4inG 'ociL.00l toaohers eoon, to ;:lo
to be correct. f.;6- far as such 'school tcychera wore C:o.osen by t'..4e
culturA, uo9art..losit oithe:z:.us;.7af)rtizlos &-_-.t,. esec...allY 1.)1, �:outf.t
iw.:Orida ad 'the 1,eaW -;!kust; tbbir tibil;Ity to, ,:iro4am4ze. oawaso .
,ozaccl. Liam ibl;ortaat tLariIheir-ab4Ity.tO teach.
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1:13 viras already the, case tho last yoars ,f the :eiimr
P e�mblic. 7.;ut in these days thoy thought ftlro-Gormanism" not
anti-11.1;ercanis 1. That the same tolchors tried after the l'azis
comik, to vover to show the suporiority of the Nazi oystem in
all rosdects as, in my opinion, as roason� that there did not
exist a sinsIe "liberal" or "democratic" teacher amon, these
"Auslands-Lohror", a.,..oat of the German �families, livin, in .5outh
Luorica 7yould not Lave accelyted a teacher wto was not "nationa-
listic ,at heartft.
ija-e '30, the n:artaotek" of ButtinL 13 Z.ont Ione d . in
the tnited Statos, at least so far as X know, such a liarthotek
of all th..: Cermans vas kept only for =Aber� of to "Arteitsfrent".
zut on t:ao other band, the ":uero Ribbentrop" kept a vary deta:Uod
and extensive "Zartei" on evory member of the diplomatic and con-
sular service of evory nation Dn this i,lobe. ..Caere were - and 1
uess still are - files on �very politician, containin dossiers
on his weaknosses, on all tho scandals, those which: hay� come al- ,
read-cy to lie, t anti those 17,4ch havo not. It was the Gor:aan ,..11ba33y
in l_ashinbton which, had collected such "material" on CoorLe !.-onnot;
tho iPre,.--,ch Ambassador. A "special report" had to bo aolivered on
el;ery official nowly appointed to a post in Germany. . :Aso, every
American official who once ;lad boon attached to a post 'in
uropo, had to be reported on acain and aoain, vhenevor ho was
transferred to another place or raised in rank.
Kogardinz, the repatriation (pae 33) I remember only, that
in i;ew York City a irl ot a Iottor from '.4.or mother, to return
as soon as ...)ossiblo to or birthplace (in liavaria) no she, the
Aother, felt quit� ill and that she should call at �tto consulate
for forthor instructions. Aftsr callin, �L Consnlas she re-
,.Jorted that there wore no instructions received, but she left ala.�7-
way as she folt honossick. any others soom to ,,ave left because
tLoy lost tneir jobs as cooks and housemaids and could not Let
nova ones. :_ut in .,Aolland the ropatriation of Geman citizens to
their homeland vas ,14raeticed on a lar�o scale. in the United
otates, only amonL industrial workers ,of Cerman citizenstaid, 1:ro-
pa�anda waJ made for the return to Cor,aany. As at that timo,
193y6, many of these Gormans were idle, quite a number followed
( the call. BUt some soeDa to have reuained0_ voluntarily or not,
in Japan.
-.'atLe 40: The Oentonce, "The real dan -or o. fifth coltLsaion
is not that It nakes converts 'cat that it mall= do -ibtors", �-ahould,
be roLemberod. The sentence -mule. bo used as an antis.:otc,, if am
von such doubts should Lo c,pread by some ,roup of a,?peasero. '
"
q4.51.11-
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-5.
i;Azat is said e.bont the ?art:,anization in
olland is correct, bnt it canriot be accepted. as to scharae for
all Latin i.ltr,:erican co.mtries.
it was not to t.',uero flibboutrop vinich initiated a
nen- i,Jrcsd orce, hut the Vorelz-;�.n. Office. fithia sorvioe ran
uuder tlis name ,.�..iranseopt_f.n.ent" as a douri.ter._part_to 'Thilrartaocean".
5:1ie n3E1:3011 for croatiiv th.is now service
und,:.)r Cloef-.4:.els control, a).parently�
c'keclined to trO.r.syrilt 1101.70 Lr..)u the oroiOffice.
"itlor';:J ersonal,:Jolitilet' is characteried correctly.
'direct a.Li.'prdpa,andau ericinally was prokosed Ivy
Nipel t.ao .14?eat Linorican upnblic relations man", some tiz,e in
At that time it hai met refusal by Cioebbels. a: do not re-
�Jaeilber wbo olk the matter up a_r_ain and 4::,ot for it the bacizinc
� rAbbentrop. Or ina11y, tile idea 77a$ to reach all Ai.7isrmicaiis
of oran entraction by "personal letter. 'The German consular
as�Lthorcties th Usk zcro asked to 'send in lists suitable for
snob 4ureoSe. About 500 C.,-.4.fferent telepliono books wore se5r-t to
orlin.'3ne nat, re:T.0;1:1)er, thrit .es9ocially Vac, L..;tate of I.ew Jersey
was flooded , for SOLIO tiu0 with , such letters . this ne:eri- �
non prOvecl to be quite ee'laive and did not brinL, an; results
� c.uite, 'understood. Ivy .6ee (senior) bad beeh p9.1�za ltkr,,o re-
tainer 'in 3.934. � Lie had boasted to 'sone of toTL:azi
pocially to:'1Zibbentro,o, th b 2o qad oven Irhitewashed the ,-;ocke-
fellers" 8.11d t1lat it shotild bo ossible to inalzo some asiaects of
the liazi idesti vopular in tic r1:3A, esiJecially toe
ones. lae of the schemes he had recom:lended as Clio direct
joal:to th incviuual9 1.1.rtilr fees for Ivy Lee, by the way
dmve been,s,aid by tho iiew' York Git-J.
LO 52: 2he role of tha Ger,f4an railway alero is char-
actrized correctly. iiiese offices wore used all over the 7.orld.
t sroad propaaucla to collcct data afid
55: ..t.t is correct t,at orders rere ,--1,iven to eliminate
all Jews fromrepresentin, iorau u-ndertE.'...s in foren lands.
zho move .oriL,�i.no.ted in Law -.ark Gita. --.;eck-er, at t.b.&.t time
cor.a.ercial attache, rortcd to 4jorlin, that such rt.:presentation
throu,h jewiski firma,: or ViaLi "contra:1.7 to .
the t)o.raan intere-,t".
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:Le-TessIns ,iventpr '40rits ihysigentsru, away
fru: bia'eountrevii, 1161:tody'j4 Interested,' in:
tbese dorsi to boor the i.eal.4oryi but t. fucts.are known 0
me withell
i'xikt;o 67t- ;tio.critieism 4f the ?.-utc.:. ounterespio:nate aer-.
A.as. is oorreot,;but there were:sloe zo easlns for that. � The
(;ommando of the nuteh forces *4 :Wen 4* .,6,40. -140 ,06lice- were atir
interested:in:One question; thOtoT--:iUnie it'ideneeri 'loth were
very. keen to 4Winforostions on7.1c3urr1.ere of t le lard Inter
national-deo -;rbsy believed t.:t tile,coniunIatie,dancer for the
Aiteh last'indies ws rzreeter Importance that the Japanese. -
� danger. The 3sormars 044ta,m and,tiwcrnaris'nen.soln had.the :luteh
military Counteresi)lonaosse Well atthe,ohlere lf police of the
inlhe :palmt the-hend_by ;Itrintf. th044. Information
On corlmunistit-oetivities (portly feloifled at least) and cett,knk;
somov!sg060 w111"1-bysayin4 thst troytLemaelves wore only Lrt.
toro$tea In the activities or the 11*J.tish and in se of the d)r-
man religses* nutt Kleffen* CLIC n6t know anythinc about the.
activities 74-i.ronatnen" asf-the-"otbacher iAittint4. proves
'Only that his *n apparatue aA3 fsiate it *mild not !love haPo.
;Jened under cot Lioburtirqm, lr under his prodsoossorritron
..-evers� -3oth:tbeagi "LAIto MAlisters n dirlin were savage excel-
informed.: But .iitburc,..Airtess 31.4040,80r, -.4. van 1!sersma,
,formerly winister,10-4ashintoni, -believed ;myth/a& the ;esie
told his, vrL obarastsrizod by -:40 Arsonal friend Berbert sohols
(rrom tie Germs. Bebasiy 3.n (ieshintitOn). one of those Dutch,
Whiell10014 Ot 1104 tO see his fellow ,ocuntrymen join loroony
1 in a orusaderageinst bolshevleme Sleo t14,Hutcri Consul oenialla
in'L'eritn,'Kr. 4ont.41*.f3rmerly in NewHIork.eitYp hisa idiom slm4-
l*r to those .,f wen ftersme, -
There ls also en error in translation: 3 it is .
*entiemed that Averteauensmenn" is used .4) the sense tie's MantO
4 trusted"� that.isAprronows. it really' 04�n3, and. li_used in
34In35,of _________
Conclusion:, jhe *s tin of t military esAoneee sera
*seemeHto:bCivebrreat deserliAionof.tho Riftb
_.n" eartnot be .nir.liso. tis bound to lead to false inter-.:
3ipsi4eeAuch orcAnisation is.notcreatect after the
:Attern forllifferent countries. Airslythe�writer means
:hove itv1r.e.; lab .00. -
Tido-r4.th.Ini*,111ennniorv,xtui'c2,:Xiau tbcr t clues to
-7 cr�tec.: notworLf.�
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